Customer Reviews

The Victor Reader really helps me with taking notes and learning my material in my classes. Since that I have glaucoma, and my eyes get tired easily; I can just sit back and listen to my notes and take in information without straining my eyes. I can also listen to my books and enjoy them. I love my Victor Reader so much!

My name is Jorge A. Gispert, a resident of Coral Gables, Florida, visually impaired and, for that reason, a user of several of the HumanWare products. However, I understand that by making reference to my achievements with only one of them would not do fair justice to the complete HumanWare’s line of products. I’m totally blind so, by default, all products designed for low vision are ruled-out for my use and therefore only reference to the Victor Readers line is made herein. For years, (I forget how many) I used one of the old Victor Readers to read books downloaded from NLS BARD to my computer and subsequently transferred via SD cards or USB flash memories to the unit. In this way, I could read books and other materials relevant to my career as well as personal information. This unit is now retired, though operational as a back-up. I am also semi-retired after many years of law practice with the aid of the HumanWare units cited herein. Later on, the Victor Reader Stratus became available. I also got one. This unit, is now placed by my bedside for reading before going to sleep. This unit gives me the flexibility of using USB flash memories and SD cards simultaneously with a much clearer sound, speed control and navigating features, etc. But then came the fantastic Victor Reader New Generation. I immediately got one. Needless to mention the numerous features and advantages. That came with it and those which keep being added from time-to-time. I read newspapers and magazines from NFB, listen to internet radio, download books from NLS BARD directly to its internal memory, record internet radio programs and transfer books that I have saved in my computer and even search topics and read documents with its text-to-speech feature. In conclusion, rather than making reference to my achievements today, such as being up-to-date in news and reading materials, I wish to retrospectively cite all the benefits I would have had during my school and university years by using any of these pieces of equipment for the daily reading of extensive, and I mean really extensive reading requirements in Law School. I sincerely envy those students and professionals who, today, benefit in such manner and how much easier these products make it for them. In support of this statement, I wish to mention that I went to Law School back in 1974 and the equipment available those days was a bulky cassette player-recorder with the limitations of recording in small tapes and wasting lots of time in fast-forwarding and rewinding the tapes to replay or locate material. What a difference it would have made and how much additional time for studying I would have had and how much effort I would have saved by using a small VR New Generation and instantly jumping from chapter to chapter, repeating or jumping back and forth phrases or selected time spans and topics and even record lectures with the touch of one key!! Thank you for continuously improving your equipment with new features.

For years, the Victor Stream Reader has helped me hold down my job as a clinical social worker. About four years ago, I realized it could also be an accomplice, a good companion for another side of my nature. A late bloomer, in my mid-sixties, I started messing around with poetry. Since then, I have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a nice acknowledgment. My micro chapbooks are accessible online through the Origami Poems Project. My work has appeared in academic journals and on the Rhode Island affiliate of National Public Radio. Yes, I'm bragging. This has been such a great way for me to reaffirm my connection to my spirit and to the world as I go through vision loss. The Victor Reader lets me lay down rough drafts or simple phrases when I am on the go. It helps me polish and time my readings. And the novels and poetry it carries for me feed my head.

One day, I was washing and my washer latch broke so I went to YouTube and I found my washer repair number to repair my washer and it gave instructions I recorded them on my Victor reader and I listen to it over and over and I repaired my own washer latch. Thank you HumanWare!

I found the Victor Reader Stream to be a major success in my years in college. I used it for reading my textbooks and taking notes during class. I would record the class lecture and then listen to it in my apartment. I am a member of several reading resources, and I was able to get their textbooks off their websites. Not only did it read recorded books, but it did a very good job in reading PDF files. I would sometimes run into problems where the textbook wasn't available unless a worker scanned it onto a MS Word or PDF file. I think the Victor Reader Stream was successful in fulfilling my degree. I got a BA degree in communications from the University of Southern Maine. I am very optimistic that the Victor will help me in my future career as well. I plan to write news or become a news commentator on the radio. Thank you to HumanWare.

Humanware is probably one of the best companies I have heard of for providing assistive technology to the visually impaired. I recently was lucky enough to become in possession of the new victor reader stream digital talking player. I must say that this player is the best talking book player I have owned by far. I am a person who loves a good book although, because of my visual impairment and disability it is difficult for me to read no less turn a page in a physical book. This player is so versatile and compact that I use it practically 24 hours a day. Honestly, I use it for a majority of what I do. Because of this player I have been able to listen to more books than ever before. I probably listen to between two and three books a week. The ability to download books directly over Wi-Fi is amazing. I?m actually a college student and I recently was able to obtain some of my college books for free via learning Ally and other sources such as Bookshare, bard, and finally but not least, openLibrary.org. Even more beneficial I have been able to obtain a few necessary books for school that we have had to pay for via these services. In other words, while waiting for the physical textbooks to arrive locally I have been able to download copies of necessary books via services offered. This player definitely has allowed me to complete my work in a timelier manner. A few semesters ago instead of sitting at my computer to write a paper for my online religion course I ended up using the record feature on the player to record my entire paper while sitting on my deck in my backyard. Then I had my computer translate the audio file into a written format. To my surprise my paper ended up being 15 pages long and even more impressive after translating audio file into a Word document the word document had very few grammatical and or spelling errors. In my opinion, it would have taken me longer to dictate on my computer using my speech recognition and microphone to write my paper. It is truly amazing what you can do with this player. For my last class we had to obtain certain readings and scriptures from the Bible that I was able to record directly from the computer using an audio cable. This feature that the player offers allowed me to listen to the Bible readings that were required for class with ease and once again I was not confined to one space. I have even use this player taking a ride in my van with my family. Perhaps my favorite feature of this player is it?s size and compactness. I love the fact that I can lay in my bed and have my player next to me. In the past other players I have used have been bulky and somewhat of a hassle to use. Humanware is a great company and I would recommend their products to anyone with a visual impairment or disability.

For some nine years now, I have been the proud owner of the Victor reader Stream as well as the Victor Reader Stream, Next Generation. These products have opened up a whole world of printed media to me, including the daily newspapers from my city of residence, my hometown in Indiana, and a wide area over the globe, available from NFB Newsline. I have also enjoyed reading the variety of magazines available through both NFB Newsline as well as bookshare.org. Being a professional in the blindness community, working as an instructor for Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired (formerly The Hadley School for the blind, Winnetka, Illinois), I have had the opportunity to avail myself of many podcasts, including Hadley's own podcasts on a variety of subjects, including their iFocus series. Being able to listen to these podcasts with my Victor Reader Stream while sitting in front of my computer or with iPhone in hand, I can learn how to use my I-devices, in particular, more efficiently and effectively--i.e., receiving and sending e-mails, using such apps as Voice Dream and Facebook. A history buff, especially of the history of music, I have been enjoying a podcast entitled "Music from 100 Years Ago" that I discovered through searching on my Victor Reader Stream, Next Generation. A long-time patron of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, I have listened to a variety of talking books using the Victor Reader Stream and the newer Victor Reader Stream, Next Generation. whether sitting in my easy chair in my living room or outside on my patio in the Arizona sunshine, I can read a good romance or delve into inspirational literature or biographies of the U.S. Presidents and their families. Through Hadley, I have many students who are learning braille through our distance-education courses who use the Victor Reader Stream. I have been able to help them access our braille materials via USB thumb drive with their Victor Reader Streams so that they can begin their study of braille, whether uncontracted or contracted. As a beta tester of new software for the Victor Reader Stream, Next Generation, I have been delighted to share my feedback on the pros and cons of that beta software, not only from a consumer's viewpoint, but also from that of a professional in the field of blindness. The Internet radio feature on the Victor Reader, Next Generation, allows me to listen to stations near and far. I have especially enjoyed listening to stations from my hometown area in Northwest Indiana as well as the world over, from Liverpool, England, to Sydney, Australia, as well as my local radio reading service, Sun Sounds and the variety of stations from ACB, featuring news from the world of blindness. I have been a long-time volunteer for bookshare.org, and the victor Reader Stream, Next Generation has allowed me to download hundreds of titles to read and enjoy. I am a professional braille proofreader and do wish that the Victor Reader Stream, Next Generation, would allow me to set the speech to read all punctuation so that I could use it as a sort of "copyholder," reading the pdf file of a book that I am proofreading in braille. Perhaps my being able to do this will be a reality sometime in the near future. In my nine years of using both the victor Reader Stream and the newer victor Reader Stream, Next Generation, I have found both products to be reliable and easy to use. I view these products as a real window on the world of information, techniques that I can use in my work with Hadley, and just plain relaxation and entertainment--whether I am listening to soft music, enjoying an old-time radio program, or taking in a Bible study podcast through Our Daily Bread Ministries. Thank you, Humanware, for two wonderful bookreaders for the blind and visually impaired!

I just love the latest version of the Victor Stream and its wifi capabilities. I was in the middle of studying for an Advanced Composition and Critical Writing midterm and the hard drive went out on my laptop. My textbooks, notes, and study material were on my laptop. So, I used the internet capabilities on the Victor and researched 12 major mass media theories using the Reference section on the Victor. I was able to get the information through the Wikipedia and wikitionary, and I passed my midterm. Thank you Humanware for such a great product.

I have been a user of many of HumanWare's products over the years. I could share a long and interesting story of product development in many areas. For my story, I'll focus on the Victor Stream New Generation. Although retired, I still make great use of the Victor Stream. I enjoy podcasts on a variety of subjects and through my Victor Stream I keep current on assistive technology developments. Then there is pleasure reading. I so enjoy downloading CNIB books to my Victor Stream! Finally, being able to quickly record notes with the Victor Stream makes some daily tasks easier. Life is better with HumanWare products and I hope that HumanWare will continue to provide quality products!

In 2009, my vocational rehab counselor gave me my Victor Stream Reader. Before that, because cassette tapes are no longer being used, i did not have any way of recording anything in advance. So my readers/scribes had no way of reading the chapters to me ahead of time. And I did not have any way of bringing books when I traveled unless I brought my huge talking book player. It was great since I can listen to books at home; however I could not carry it around nor record anything. When i received my Victor Stream Reader, it gave me a little more flexibility. I can carry it everywhere. The Victor Reader Stream is useful and convenient for those of us who are on the road and takes classes because they can read or listen to class lectures wherever they are. You kill Two birds in one stone. I have the capability to mark my place where I stopped reading. All I have to do is press bookmark and I can find my place!! I currently work in the hotel industry and I can record guest's request such as wake up calls and their amenity requests. I even use the Victor Reader Stream to write down phone number and serial number for whenever I have to call for technical assistance. Thank you Humanware for coming up with such a wonderful and useful product! Please keep them coming!

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For over 25 years, HumanWare’s inspirational vision has resulted in a range of highly intuitive and intelligent solutions that empower people who are blind or with low vision by giving them the independence to participate effectively within a sighted world.